Median wait (P50)2026-04-29
33days
Process guide max197 days
Live data· SUBCLASS 500 · STREAM 44
Student visa (subclass 500) — Higher Education sector
Student visa for bachelor, masters by coursework, graduate certificate and graduate diploma programs at Australian universities. Higher Education Sector stream.
Processing-time distributionof grants in trailing 3 months
25%
P25
14d
50%
P50
33d
75%
P75
46d
90%
P90
196d
Category
Student & graduate
Stream
Higher Education Sector
Subclass code
500
How to read these numbers
Home Affairs publishes the actual processing-time distribution for each visa subclass. The 25th percentile shows how fast the quickest quarter of recent grants were finalised; the 90th shows the long tail. The median (50th) is the most useful single number — half of applications take less, half take more. Plan around the 75th or 90th if your travel or work plans cannot tolerate a delay.
Source · immi.homeaffairs.gov.auRefreshed daily